[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1869 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1869

  To amend title 18, United States Code, to expand the prohibition on 
                   stalking, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 19, 1999

 Mrs. Kelly (for herself, Mr. Royce, Mrs. Johnson of Connecticut, Mr. 
 Frost, Ms. Granger, Mr. Horn, Mr. Gilman, Mr. English, Mr. Underwood, 
 Mr. Green of Wisconsin, Mr. McKeon, Mrs. Jones of Ohio, Mr. Franks of 
 New Jersey, Mrs. Myrick, Mr. Gary Miller of California, Mr. McNulty, 
Mrs. Morella, Mr. Lucas of Oklahoma, Ms. Berkley, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, and 
 Mr. Condit) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 18, United States Code, to expand the prohibition on 
                   stalking, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Stalking Prevention and Victim 
Protection Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF THE PROHIBITION ON STALKING.

    (a) In General.--Section 2261A of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 2261A. Stalking
    ``(a) Whoever stalks an individual, in or affecting interstate or 
foreign commerce, within the special maritime and territorial 
jurisdiction of the United States, or within Indian country, shall be 
punished as provided in section 2261.
    ``(b) For purposes of this section--
            ``(1) a person stalks an individual if the person, on 2 or 
        more occasions--
                    ``(A) engages in any conduct that results in the 
                individual's reasonable fear of--
                            ``(i) death or bodily injury to that 
                        individual; or
                            ``(ii) the death of, or bodily injury to, a 
                        member of that individual's immediate family; 
                        and
                    ``(B) knows or has reasonable cause to believe that 
                such conduct results in that fear; and
            ``(2) the term `immediate family' means, with respect to an 
        individual, a spouse, parent, child or sibling of the 
        individual, or any other person who regularly resides, or in 
        the most recent 6 months regularly resided, in the household of 
        the individual.
    ``(c) The court shall at the time of sentencing for an offense 
under this section issue an appropriate protection order designed to 
protect the victim from further stalking by the convicted person. That 
order shall continue in effect until the victim communicates to the 
court that the order is no longer needed.''.
    (b) No Bail if Prior Crime of Violence.--Section 3142(e) of title 
18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 
``In a case in which a violation of section 2261A is charged and the 
person has a prior conviction for a crime of violence under Federal or 
State law, the judicial officer shall not hold a hearing under 
subsection (f), and shall order the detention of the person before 
trial, if that conviction was for an offense against the same victim as 
in the current charge, or a member of that victim's family, or if that 
conviction became final less than 5 years before the conduct 
constituting the alleged violation of section 2261A took place. In 
computing the 5-year period for the purposes of the application of the 
preceding sentence, no time shall be included that the convicted person 
spent in prison pursuant to that conviction.''.
    (c) Amendment to Sentencing Guidelines.--Pursuant to its authority 
under section 994 of title 28, United States Code, the United States 
Sentencing Commission shall amend the Sentencing Guidelines to provide 
an appropriate sentence enhancement for a defendant convicted under 
section 2261A of title 18, United States Code, in a case in which the 
defendant has a prior conviction under Federal or State law of a crime 
of violence (as defined in section 16 of such title 18) against the 
same victim as in the current offense or against a member of that 
victim's family.
    (d) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
chapter 110A of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking 
the item relating to section 2261A and inserting the following:

``2261A. Stalking.''.
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